Ex-Girlfriend: Tsarnaev a 'Tough Guy'

By

Ted Mann and

Pervaiz Shallwani

April 22, 2013 5:37 p.m. ET

Tamerlan Tsarnaev could be a bully, a high-school tough guy intent on proving his mettle as a boxer, and an adolescent sometimes eager to put a scare into his peers, his former girlfriend said on Monday. But she never anticipated his involvement in something like the attacks on the Boston Marathon last week.

"When I was in high school he wasn't like that at all," said Nadine Ascencao, 25 years old, of Brookline, Mass., who said she dated Mr. Tsarnaev, 26, and who court records say was the woman who accused Mr....